LETTER OF THE MONTH PRIZE IS A
MEGUIAR’S CAR CARE PACK
INCLUDING SOFT WASH GEL, RUBBING
COMPOUND & WET LOOK CLEANER WAX.
Supplied by Meguiar’s New Zealand
http://www.MEGUIARS.co.nzR
eading about the NSU
Ro 80 (Issue No. 343)
brought to mind my
one and only contact with one
of these remarkable cars. I was
working as a mechanic in a village
in Northern Ireland in the early
1970s when an Ro 80 arrived on
the end of a tow rope. It was the
first rotary-engined vehicle any of
us had seen. Something had gone
wrong with the driver’s side drive
shaft. My colleague started work
on it, located the problem, and
ordered replacement parts from
the NSU agent in Belfast. The
parts had to come from Germany,
which took six weeks!
Well, the parts duly arrived
and my colleague, Raymond,
got on with fitting them. When
he finished, the engine spun
over but that was all; it wouldn’t
start. So out came the spark
plugs. They were soaking wet
with petrol, which had leaked
past the rotor seals. We spun the
engine over and out came heaps
more petrol, it was incredible.
We tried again. We lost count
of the number of times we had
to repeat this operation, buteventually the engine burst
in to life and the workshop
disappeared in a cloud of smoke.
Eventually the atmosphere in
the shop cleared and Raymond
took the car for a test drive. He
returned a few minutes later
with an ear-to-ear grin. He
handed me the key and asked
me to take it for a drive. I then
understood the grin on his face.
This was the smoothest-running
car I had ever driven. It was
remarkable, with very little
engine noise. The gear change
took a bit of getting used to (no
clutch pedal) but that didn’t take
long. The Ro 80 was an absolute
delight to drive, smooth as silk.
I was sorry to have to return
the key.
One more thing. Also in the
July edition [No. 343] was an
article about two Aston Martin
DB2s. In the very early 1960s,
when with my first employer, a
customer came along one day
and traded in his immaculate
British Racing Green DB2 for a
new black MGB. To this day, I
still can’t understand why.
Michael KirkpatrickROTARY REMINISCENCE
I
feel it necessary to write and
congratulate you for the
nostalgia generated in recent
issues of the magazine.
These days, my wife allows me
to slide the mag into the grocery
trolley. It gets paid for then out
of housekeeping rather than my
‘allowance’.
Over recent issues, I have
enjoyed articles on the Austin
Seven Ruby, my first car, sold to
me when [I was] an apprentice
by my boss at Allenton Motors
for $15.
We had the sub-agency to sell
Daimlers and Prince Gloria cars
and also serviced a number of
Jaguars as well from around mid
Canterbury, and recent articles
about those marques have been
read with great interest.
What a mission it was to
remove the instruments and
dashboard from the Daimlers
(and Jags), which suffered from
sun damage, to be replaced with
reconditioned units — dozens
of screws, and a fair bit of time.
The Prince Gloria (later to
become Datsun) was a special
car, as it was one of the very
early Japanese models to come
on sale in New Zealand and
was startlingly different to the
British vehicles of the time.
I remember taking a dash out
of one for the first time: four
wing nuts, unclip the speedo
cable, and unplug the single
electrical connection to the
printed circuit in the dash unit.
Easy-peasy.
And on to the magazine with
the Ford 100E on the front
cover [Issue No. 343]: my
second car, not particularly
memorable but a large stone’s
throw on from the Ruby. My
late father was a Lancaster pilotlate in WWII, so of course I
enjoyed the article about the
Rolls-Royce Merlin.
My father spoke little about
the war, preferring to put it
behind him, but one thing
I did hear him speak about
enthusiastically was the Merlins
roaring along and getting the
team home again.
At Allenton Motors, we also
sold a very small number of
gorgeous NSU Ro 80 cars and
some of the rotary industrial
motors for farm/contractor
equipment.
These air-cooled motors were
about 8hp [6kW], if my memory
serves me correctly, and had a
clutch and reduction gearbox
attached to bring the revs down
to a useful level. I remember that
we mounted a display at a motor
show and I was able to start the
engine, give it plenty of revs, and
still be able to pick the whole
thing up with fingers under a lip
on the fuel tank. A real crowd-
pleaser and something impossible
with the Briggs and Stratton and
Wisconsin engines of similar
output. It is always enjoyable to
read Donn Anderson’s well-
researched and written articles
along with those of the rest of
your team.
Keep those articles coming.
Ron DalyMANY MEMORIES
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